Fans name Optus Stadium as AFL's best venue, Fyfe as league's MVP

Optus Stadium has received a huge tick of approval from fans, being rated Australia's best venue for watching footy.

Optus Stadium stands alone as the AFL's best venue, fans say.

Photo: David Prestipino

And WA has dominated other key aspects of the 2018 fan survey for afl.com.au and the AFL Record ,with 19 per cent of 48,000 fans voting Nat Fyfe as the competition's most valuable player ahead of reigning Brownlow medallist Dustin Martin.

West Coast ruckman Nic Naitanui stormed into third place after returning from a season-long layoff from an ACL injury in career-best form.

The Tigers and Eagles are also leaders in the premiership race, according to fans, with 33 per cent voting for West Coast and also last year's premiers to prevail on the last Saturday in September this year.

And Eagles coach Adam Simpson has obviously soared in the eyes of fans, receiving a whopping 99.7 per cent approval rating after just seven rounds, when voting for coaches ceased.

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This time last year, Simpson had the league's second-worst approval rating, narrowly ahead of Gold Coast's Rodney Eade, who was later soon sacked.

Eagles coach Adam Simpson has a 99.7% approval rating with fans.

Photo: AAP

Just 51 per cent of Fremantle fans were satisfied with coach Ross Lyon, who has endured his own season from hell after a sexual harrassment claim from five years ago was revealed in the media recently.

Dockers coach Ross Lyon still has a 51 per cent rating with fans.

Photo: AAP

Fremantle's fall from grace was evidenced by only 6 per cent of fans believing they could win this year's flag — Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Port, Geelong and GWS rounded out the top eight premiership fancies among fans.

The new 60,000-seat Optus Stadium, which has had its fair share of teething issues since opening this year, was a favourite among the voting fans, who had to have attended AFL stadiums across Australia in the past 12 months to vote.

Optus Stadium: 9/10

The brand-new arena in Burswood tops the chart for AFL footy fans, with an average rating of 9/10, despite not necessarily being the favourite venue for players.

Stadium management copped flak for the ground's hard surface, which Sydney coach John Longmire blamed for an injury to superstar Buddy Franklin, while Geelong defenders Mark Blicavs and Zach Tuohy needed stitches after being cut by LED signage they had a close encounter with during the round 3 loss to West Coast.

But the $1.8 billion stadium been embraced by footy fans, as evidenced by strong crowd numbers in its opening season.

There were 53,000 on hand for West Coast's round one opener against Sydney, while 56,000 attended the round six Western Derby against Fremantle.

Adelaide Oval: 8.9

Close behind the Perth venue is Adelaide's football centrepiece, a stadium that underwent substantial redevelopment after being predominantly regarded as a cricket venue.

The historic ground's revamp ahead of the 2014 season brought AFL games into the centre of Adelaide from the old Football Park and increased seating capacity to more than 50,000.

MCG: 8.7

The home of football, the world-renowned MCG is the biggest and best-known of Australia's stadia and ranks third among AFL fans.

The venue's Great Southern Stand will eventually be upgraded as part of a $500m mega deal with the Victorian government, though the redevelopment could be a decade away.

That deal will ensure the ground can still seat more than 100,000 spectators, while it was also announced recently the MCG would host the Grand Final until at least 2057.

Best of the rest

Geelong fans have given the nod of approval to their GMHBA Stadium, placing it fourth in the survey. Traditionally known as Kardinia Park, the venue rated 8.5 among fans and is approaching the fifth and final stage of its own $100 million overhaul.

The venerable SCG, which dates back to 1848, came fifth with an average rating of 8.3. The Swans' home is rated narrowly better than GWS' stomping ground across town at Spotless Stadium (8.1).

The AFL moved to purchase the 50,000-seat Docklands stadium ahead of schedule last year, before partnering with the Victorian government to secure $225m in funding for an extensive redevelopment of the stadium and surrounds, including opening the precinct across Harbour Esplanade to the waterfront.